


Too Good to be True

by invisible_aliens



Series: Carry On Countdown 2018 [7]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 01:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16800919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisible_aliens/pseuds/invisible_aliens
Summary: Simon's forgotten about his relationship with Baz. Baz doesn't know what to do.Canon divergence, set when Baz comes over to find Simon at Penny's after the dead spot appears at his house (Chapter 74).Written for the Carry On Countdown 2018, Day 7: Christmas Nightmare





	Too Good to be True

**Author's Note:**

> So I feel like the prompt probably meant more 'a nightmare at/about Christmas', but I used it in the 'nightmarish situation at Christmas'.

**SIMON**

I sit in Penny's bedroom, a million thoughts running through my head. About Baz. About Penny. The Humdrum. My stupid wings. It's all too overwhelming, so I try to focus on the good things. Penny supporting me.

And whatever this thing is with Baz. This… Boyfriend thing.

I whisper to myself, to ground myself, to make it more real.

“I have a boyfriend. Baz. Baz is my boyfriend. _Baz is my boyfriend!_ And we're a real and happy couple, even it if seems **_too good to be true_**.”

As far as I know, **too good to be true** isn't an actual spell, so hopefully it won't matter that I accidentally pushed magic into it. Although now that I think about it, I can't remember why I said it…

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything important. But if I have, I'm sure Penny can remind me. (Penny remembers everything.)

**BAZ**

Father completely lost his shit when he saw Simon flying away from the newly-created dead spot surrounding our home.

“That bastard!” he shouts. “He’s in league with the Humdrum.” He looks over to me, his face red with anguish.” It's the Mage behind all this. It has to be.”

We get out of the dead spot as fast as we can, driving into the city to Fiona's flat. No one talks all the way there. I wonder if I should try and defend Simon, but I'm not sure what to say. Because Father's right. Simon is the Humdrum.

It's the afternoon by the time I feel I can reasonably leave the flat to go and find Simon.

“Where are you going?” asks Fiona. I think she has an inkling I'm going to visit a boy. (Although she'd never guess Simon's my boyfriend. Aleister Crowley, I'll never get used to saying that).

“I'm… Going back to school. To confront the Mage,” I say.

Father stands up. “I should come.”

“No,” I say, “you're not a student any more, he'll have more excuse to attack you. Defence against intruders, and all that.” It's a bit of a rubbish excuse, but he buys it.

The first place I decide to check is the Bunce's. (I'm not sure where else he'd go. Also, it's not too far away.) Bunce opens the door and let's me in. I can see Snow behind her, his sword drown.

It's so good to see him. I want to say something, but I don't think Bunce has told him yet, and I'm not ready to have that conversation right yet.

So instead, I just say to him, “All right, Snow?” as Penny leads us to her Father's office.

He scowls back at me. “You care about my well-being, now, do you?”

I frown. “Well, you know, yes.” He must be overacting for Bunce. (It doesn't make it hurt any less, though.)

He walks up into the attic without another word.

I get a sudden jolt of fear in my stomach. What if I just imagined it? What if Simon isn't my boyfriend and he didn't kiss me in the forest? Didn't sleep cuddled up with me or come back for me?

No. I've spent so long being in love with Snow, I'm used to him hating me. I couldn't convince myself otherwise unless it was _real_.

I push the doubt out of my mind as I show Simon and Bunce the dead spots on the map, and explain why I think Simon is the Humdrum. Horrifying as the whole idea is, Bunce is excited by the idea of working it out.

And then Simon says he wants to tell the Mage.

I try to tell him we can’t, but he won’t listen. “We had an agreement,” I say.

“Yes, to help find your Mother’s killer. What’s that got to do with this? It doesn't mean we're suddenly friends or anything. We’ve barely looked into it! In fact, I’m not sure why you thought you could come around today at all!”

Every word cuts straight through me. I want to run out of the room crying. But I don't.

“What the hell's got into you?” I've started yelling. “We’ve spent _heaps_ of time looking into it! And I thought we'd got to a point where you didn't just assume I was plotting all the time. A point where we could… Get along, even.”

What I really mean is, _where we're boyfriends, and we kiss a lot_. But I can't say that in front of Bunce.

Bunce is frowning. “Baz is right, Simon. You've been getting on with Baz a lot better lately.”

Her support is enough to destroy my last shred of doubt that I imagined it all. (But not the fear that he's forgotten, and he's not going to remember.)(Or he's decided being Baz Pitch's boyfriend is a terrible idea and feigning ignorance is the best way he can think of getting out of it.)

I grab him by the arm and drag him out onto the stairs, closing the door behind me so Bunce doesn't overhear.

“What the hell are you playing at?” I hiss.

He wrenches his arm from my tight grasp.

“What do you mean?” he takes a step away from me.

“You're just going to pretend it never happened? That you never stayed over at my house and slept in my room, and in the forest we didn't-”

“When the hell did I stay at your house?”

Bunce comes out onto the stairs.

“There's something wrong with his memory,” I say. “He doesn't remember that he stayed at my house the other night.”

Bunce gets us to sit down at the kitchen table.

“If you don't remember staying at Baz's, what do you think happened?” she asks Simon matter-of-factly. It's good that one of us is calm about this. My whole body is shaking.

Simon frowns. “I… I don't remember.” He looks down and the table.” It's all just blank.” He sounds scared.” There really is something wrong with my memory, isn't there?”

“I'm sure we can fix it.” Bunce looks thoughtful. “Has anyone done any unknown or weird magic near you that you can think of recently?”

“Um…” he thinks for a moment. “Well, I did accidentally cast **too good to be true**. Is that even a spell, though?”

“It doesn't matter if it's a known spell or not, Simon. It sounds like you've erased specific parts of your memory, probably by mistake. It must have been something you thought was really good.”

“Staying over at Baz's? Yeah, I'm sure I had a great time.”

“How can we get him to remember?” I ask. I sound more panicked than I would like to admit.

“It's hard to permanently erase someone's memories, so hopefully if we remind him about what he's forgotten they'll come back.” She looks at me expectantly.

He's forgotten that we're boyfriends, he must have. But I don't want to bring that up out of the blue, especially with Bunce right next to me, so I start small.

“You came to my house because I'd invited you, and you'd found something out to help find my mother's killer. You were so dirty when you arrived! You were scared of the wraiths, so you had to come and sleep in my room.” I pause.” Does any of this seem familiar?”

He shakes his head, so I continue. “And you came with me to see the vampires, and I was… Upset afterwards, so you made sure I didn't do anything stupid.”

Simon's face is still blank with incomprehension.

Bunce bangs the table in frustration. “We're missing something,” she says. “Something good, something really good, happened in the last few days, and we have to work out what it is.” She looks at me suspiciously.

“It has to to be something to do with you, Baz. Do you have any idea of what it could be?”

Of course I do. But how can I say it?

Bunce is waiting expectantly.

“Well… We’ve been getting along well recently?”

“Yeah, but that's a slow change that's been happening for months. What's changed in the last few days?”

I want Bunce to leave the room, but I can't think of an excuse. (And she'd make us tell her afterwards anyway.”

So instead, I take a deep breath. “You kissed me,” I say, “in the forest. And I… I kissed you back. And we did it again, later. And that night, I slept in your arms.”

Bunce is frozen in shock, her mouth hanging open. I ignore her, and look at Simon. His eyes are wide, and he's stopped breathing.

“You came back, after you left with Bunce and Wellbelove, and you asked me to be your boyfriend. And I said yes. Of course I did. Because Simon, you're… Brilliant. Completely brilliant, and completely beautiful.”

I reach across the table and grab his hand.

“That's ridiculous,” he says. “Why would I…”

“Please, Simon,” I whisper, squeezing his hand. The tears I held back earlier are filling my eyes. I shut them tight, trying to keep them in.

He squeezes my hand back. I open my eyes to look him. (He's as beautiful as ever.)

“Baz,” he breathes. “I remember.” He comes around the table, not letting go of my hand, and pulls me into a hug.

“I'm sorry,” he whispers. “I'm sorry I forgot.”

We stay like that for a few minutes, until Bunce says, “Well. I guess that's one explanation.” I don't think it's sunk in yet.

“Now that we sorted that problem out, shall we move onto the next one? We've got quite a bit of work to do,” she says,

“Let's get to it,” I say.

Now that Simon remembers, I feel ready to take on anything.


End file.
